PLENTY Spring 2020 Plenty Spring 2020-WEB | Page 41

largest sectors in agriculture and
includes nurseries and landscap-
ing/lawn care companies, arbor-
ists, sod farms and greenhouse
businesses.”
Another way to consider these
stats is that the 7,000 people who
work in this sector have a hand
in producing stunning outdoor
environments that the DC area
has become known for. It all starts
with the region’s nurseries. The
folks whose hands love the soil,
and whose wisdom can see what
works, and where. They are artists
in their own right.
So how does one end up a
nursery owner? A lover of planted
things? Like so many careers or
passions in life, they are as varied
as the folks who choose them.
Take Susanna Farm Nursery
just off Route 28 in Boyds on the
western side of the Agricultural
Reserve. Owner Brant Baker has
been at it since 1986. Driving
through the entrance to the nurs-
ery feels more like entering a beau-
tifully maintained parkland. Gentle
grassy hills are dotted with mature
and handsomely pruned trees of all
kinds. Some steadfast and tall, oth-
ers softly weeping. Everything is
perfectly landscaped. Signs tell you
that the nursery is off to the left,
but not before you get a glimpse
of the fully restored main manor
house, circa 1870. Impressive to
behold, it has been listed—along
with the entire farm and outbuild-
ings—in the National Register of
Historic Places since 1983.
“Susanna Farm is definitely
not your typical garden center,”
Brant chuckles. “The setting alone
sets it apart. People seek us out
for our unique and interesting
plant selection, but they also get
to experience our beautiful vistas
and peaceful atmosphere. It really
is both a shopping experience and
a wonderful outing.”
Brant’s first love is dwarf
evergreens, followed closely by
Japanese maples. Susanna Farm
has developed a strong niche in
both plant species over its 34
years of operation. Traversing the
grounds in fun-to-drive golf carts,
you’ll discover a huge array of
cultivated varieties of conifers and
maples each displaying its distinc-
tive color, texture and shape. The
nursery’s expansive landscaping
gives it an arboretum feel and also
give customers a sense of what
these plants might look like at five,
ten or fifteen years down the road.
During annual trips to the
West Coast, Brant scours new
varieties to offer his collectors
and customers. “I’ll buy anything
from a cutting or a one-gallon
plant, to a large specimen. I don’t
really grow them… I babysit them.
These plants might stay at the
farm five years or even ten before
I sell them. Or they might sell the
day I get them!” And like a sea-
soned choreographer, he can tell
you what plants will enliven your
piece of paradise. Just bring some
photos for visual context.
The transformation from
abandoned farmland to 185 acres
of exquisitely maintained land-
scape and a thriving nursery didn’t
come easily. In the late 70s Brant’s
father Hal Baker who owned a DC
law firm and was an avid gardener,
got introduced to the world of
dwarf evergreens by an enthusias-
tic neighbor. He got hooked. That
hobby took a dramatic turn in 1981
when Hal purchased the original
300-acre Susanna Farm property.
Brant recalls that not one
blade of grass existed at that time,
and the main house and out build-
ings had been abandoned and con-
demned. The next six years, under
the direction of his father who was
still practicing law, Brant and crew
worked to completely renovate
all the buildings. “My father loved
plants. He bought a lot of them,
but he never sold a single plant in
his life,” recalls Brant. After the ar-
duous renovation, two ponds were
plenty I spring sowing 2020 41